Joshua

Explorers @ home

Activities

• Recycling construction – make the best wall or highest tower from anyrecycling junk that you have in your house

• Build a fort – you could make an outdoor or an indoor one

• Try making a rap or spoken poem out of the main points to one of today’spassages Joshua 1:1-9. Why not record it and send it to us?

• Imagine the following: Suddenly you are in charge of your family – your brothersand sisters and all your cousins are depending on you to take care of them. Youare used to babysitting for them, but you have never been completely in chargebefore. To make matters worse, you have to move house. You, your brothers andsisters and cousins (there are 12 of you altogether) need to move from where youare to a house at the other side of the town. The only snag is that the peopleliving there at the moment are refusing to get out!

Make a video diary to record how you would be feeling and then how you’regoing to tackle the task. What would you do first? How would you getcourage? What is your plan?

This is a similar situation to the one that Joshua found himself in when Moses diedand he took over as leader. Joshua was used to leading, but God had to give himextra courage when he was in charge!

Digging into the Bible

Have a look at these passages.

Isaiah makes a promise that God will be with us –therefore giving us courage – andNumbers shows us Joshua's first statement of faith in God.

Isaiah 43:1-2:• Why does God tell Israel not to be afraid?• When does God say he will be with her?• What does God say will happen when Israel goes through difficulty, fire or

flames?• Can you think of any Christians or Old Testament people who went through

dangers and escaped?• How can knowing that God is with you give you courage when you face

difficulties?• What difficulties do you face, and can knowing God is with you help you to face

up to them with more courage?

Numbers 14:6-9The situation here is that Joshua and Caleb and ten other men have been to spy outthe promised land. Ten of the spies said that the land was good, but the people wholived there were strong giants and the Jews had no chance of conquering them. Allthe people panicked and wanted to go back to Egypt.

• What did Joshua and Caleb say the land was like?• Why did they say that the Jews could definitely conquer the land?• What gave Joshua and Caleb courage?• In the end, the people chose to be scared by what they could see, not courageous

because of what they knew about God. Do you know what happened as a result?

(They spent 40 years wandering until they were all dead except for Joshua andCaleb.)

Joshua 1:1-5:• Why was Joshua the leader?• What promise did God make him?• How easy do you think Joshua found it to take over from Moses?• How Joshua might have felt?• Do you think he was excited about being the leader?• How much do you think he will miss Moses?• What problems might Joshua be worrying about?• How do you think the rest of the people will react to Joshua?

As you get older you will have to take over from people. What can you see yourselfbeing in charge of in 10 years' time?Do you know that God can give you the courage to do it well?How can you get courage from God?

God told Joshua to be ‘strong, courageous and obedient’ Joshua1:7 these charactertraits work well together.Can you think of a time when you acted courageously? What were the consequences?Can you also think of a time when you were disobedient? What were theconsequences?

PrayerTogether say a TSP (thank you, sorry, please) prayer to God:

Father God

Thank you that you promise to be with us like you were with Joshua. Sorryfor the times we aren’t obedient to you. Please help us to be courageous by

trusting you and not relying on our own abilities.

Amen

ResponseWhen Joshua arrived in the promised land he made a pile of commemorative stones.Joshua was grateful to God for all the things he had done for him and wanted thepeople to remember this particular miracle for ever!

Find some appropriate stones from your garden or on your next nature walk or if youcan’t find the right stones you can. Make some newspaper stones by scrunchingnewspaper up. On a sheet of plain paper draw or write something that Joshua wasthankful to God for.The paper should be wrapped around the stones – one sheet per stone –and fastenedwith Sellotape. Or write directly onto a real stone

We also have reasons to be thankful to God. He gives us life, health and strength. Hepromises to be with us. He sent Jesus to die for us. And there may be examples ofspecific prayer answers that you can think of that you are thankful for. Write ordraw on the plain paper things that they are thankful to God for in their lives. Andthen wrap this around the scrunched up newspaper. Or do the same on a real stone.

Have a time of prayer offering short prayers thanking God for his gifts to us.

Take time to watch and listen to this song and be strong:

https://youtu.be/W3aWIF6SUHc

St Mary's Children's and Youth Work